Dynamical separation of spherical bodies in supersonic flow

An experimental and computational investigation of the unsteady separation behaviour of two spheres in Mach-4 flow is carried out. The spherical bodies, initially contiguous, are released with negligible relative velocity and thereafter fly freely according to the aerodynamic forces experienced. In experiments performed in a supersonic Ludwieg tube, nylon spheres are initially suspended in the test section by weak threads which are detached by the arrival of the flow. The subsequent sphere motions and unsteady flow structures are recorded using high-speed (13 kHz) focused shadowgraphy. The qualitative separation behaviour and the final lateral velocity of the smaller sphere are found to vary strongly with both the radius ratio and the initial alignment angle of the two spheres. More disparate radii and initial configurations in which the smaller sphere centre lies downstream of the larger sphere centre each increases the tendency for the smaller sphere to be entrained within the flow region bounded by the bow shock of the larger body, rather than expelled from this region. At a critical angle for a given radius ratio (or a critical radius ratio for a given angle), transition from entrainment to expulsion occurs; at this critical value, the final lateral velocity is close to maximum due to the same ‘surfing’ effect noted by Laurence & Deiterding (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 676, 2011, pp. 396–431) at hypersonic Mach numbers. A visualization-based tracking algorithm is used to provide quantitative comparisons between the experiments and high-resolution inviscid numerical simulations, with generally favourable agreement

Differential Interferometric Measurement of Instability in a Hypervelocity Boundary Layer

The prediction of laminar–turbulent transition location in high-speed boundary layers is critical to hypersonic vehicle design because of the weight implications of increased skin friction and surface heating rate after transition. Current work in T5 (the California Institute of Technology’s free piston reflected shock tunnel) includes the study of problems relevant to hypervelocity boundary layer transition on cold-wall slender bodies. With the ability to ground-test hypervelocity flows, the study of energy exchange between the boundary layer instability and the internal energy of the fluid is emphasized. The most unstable mode on a cold-wall slender body at zero angle of incidence is not the viscous instability (as in low-speed boundary layers) but the acoustic instability. Quantitative characterization of this disturbance is paramount to the development of transition location-prediction tools

Differential Interferometric Measurement of Instability at Two Points in a Hypervelocity Boundary Layer

The focused laser differential interferometer (FLDI) was used to investigate disturbances in a hypervelocity boundary layer on a sharp five degree half-angle cone. The T5 hypervelocity free-piston driven reflected-shock tunnel was used as the test facility; in such a facility the study of thermo-chemical/fluid-dynamic energy exchange is emphasized. Two sensitive FLDI probe volumes were aligned along a generator of the cone that recorded time-traces of density fluctuation at sufficient time resolution, spatial resolution, and signal to noise ratio, so that the boundary layer instability could be resolved. This arrangement of the FLDI allows for the interpretation of disturbances at two points and the correlation between them. The acoustic instability is detected with narrow-band peaks in the spectral response at a number of frequencies (500 kHz to 1.29 MHz). The data indicate that the instability driving the boundary layer to turbulence is acoustic in nature. Preliminary analysis indicates that there is not a significant difference between N2 and air acoustic boundary layer disturbance amplification factors for the representative cases presented. Computation of acoustic damping by thermo-chemical relaxation processes is presented for the same representative cases, and indicates that there is a negligible amount of absorption for both air and N_2 at the observed disturbance frequencies

Fluid Mechanics of Everyday Objects

High speed Schlieren videos were produced highlighting the fluid mechanics found in everyday objects. This video (entry 102369) was submitted as part of the Gallery of Fluid Motion 2013, which is a showcase of fluid dynamics videos.Comment: Both a high-resolution version and a low-resolution version of the submitted video are available for downloa

Proposed Vertical Expansion Tunnel

It is proposed that the adverse effects from secondary diaphragm rupture in an expansion tunnel may be reduced or eliminated by orienting the tunnel vertically, matching the test gas pressure and the accelerator gas pressure, and initially separating the test gas from the accelerator gas by density stratification. This proposed configuration is termed the vertical expansion tunnel. Two benefits are 1) the removal of the diaphragm particulates in the test gas after its rupture, and 2) the elimination of the wave system that is a result of a real secondary diaphragm having a finite mass and thickness. An inviscid perfect-gas analysis and quasi-one-dimensional Euler computations are performed to find the available effective reservoir conditions (pressure and mass specific enthalpy) and useful test time in a vertical expansion tunnel for comparison to a conventional expansion tunnel and a reflected-shock tunnel. The maximum effective reservoir conditions of the vertical expansion tunnel are higher than the reflected-shock tunnel but lower than the expansion tunnel. The useful test time in the vertical expansion tunnel is slightly longer than the expansion tunnel but shorter than the reflected-shock tunnel. If some sacrifice of the effective reservoir conditions can be made, the vertical expansion tunnel could be used in hypervelocity ground testing without the problems associated with secondary diaphragm rupture

Free-stream density perturbations in a reflected-shock tunnel

Abstract Focused laser differential interferometry is used to quantify the free-stream density perturbations in the T5 reflected-shock tunnel. The investigation of reflectedshock tunnel disturbances is motivated by the study of hypervelocity boundary-layer instability and transition. Past work on hypersonic wind-tunnel noise is briefly reviewed. New results are reported for hypervelocity air flows at reservoir enthalpies between 5 and 18 MJ/kg at Mach & 5.5. Statistical analysis finds no correlation of RMS density perturbations with tunnel run parameters (reservoir pressure, reservoir mass-specific enthalpy, freestream unit Reynolds number, free-stream Mach number, and shot number). Spectrograms show that the free-stream disturbance level is constant throughout the test time. Power spectral density estimates of each of the experiments are found to collapse upon each other when the streamwise disturbance convection velocity is used to eliminate the time scale. Furthermore, the disturbance level depends strongly on wavelength. If the disturbance wavelength range of interest is between 700 lm and 10 mm, the tunnel noise is measured to be less than 0.5 % with the focused laser differential interferometer

Differential Interferometric Measurement of Instability at Two Points in a Hypervelocity Boundary Layer

The focused laser differential interferometer (FLDI) was used to investigate disturbances in a hypervelocity boundary layer on a sharp five degree half-angle cone. The T5 hypervelocity free-piston driven reflected-shock tunnel was used as the test facility; in such a facility the study of thermo-chemical/fluid-dynamic energy exchange is emphasized. Two sensitive FLDI probe volumes were aligned along a generator of the cone that recorded time-traces of density fluctuation at sufficient time resolution, spatial resolution, and signal to noise ratio, so that the boundary layer instability could be resolved. This arrangement of the FLDI allows for the interpretation of disturbances at two points and the correlation between them. The acoustic instability is detected with narrow-band peaks in the spectral response at a number of frequencies (500 kHz to 1.29 MHz). The data indicate that the instability driving the boundary layer to turbulence is acoustic in nature. Preliminary analysis indicates that there is not a significant difference between N2 and air acoustic boundary layer disturbance amplification factors for the representative cases presented. Computation of acoustic damping by thermo-chemical relaxation processes is presented for the same representative cases, and indicates that there is a negligible amount of absorption for both air and N_2 at the observed disturbance frequencies